Do you have an idea, concept or proposal that will set the world (or at least the Sage community) afire and do you want to share it with others? Ignite Sage is for you.

Each presenter gets 5 minutes for their interesting idea, using a PowerPoint that has 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. Think of it as a boiled-down TED talk. To see past Ignite Boise ideas, visit www.igniteboise.com.

Keep in mind the presentation must relate in some way to IB concepts or something learned/experienced at Sage (e.g. “10 world leaders that could have benefitted from an IB education” or “Everything I ever needed to know, I learned from a 3D printer”).

We want Ignite Sage to showcase the diversity of interests, culture, and passions throughout the Sage community.

Why Ignite Sage?

The short answer: to have fun and improve our community, build confidence in our students and help develop the lifelong skill of public speaking.

Ignite presentations are exciting and a great way to build public speaking skills. The audience is filled with your peers, family and friends, all of whom are encouraged to actively support and cheer for speakers. It is arguably the most supportive venue there is for making a presentation. Further, you are not trying to sell a new widget or convince anyone how great your implementation of Microsoft blahblahblah is. You are speaking to your passion or discussing something you know like the back of your hand. Ignite is the perfect gateway into the world of public speaking.

While the Ignite format gives you the freedom to talk about whatever you want, it also forces a particular structure and this requires careful preparation. The format for Ignite is:

20 auto-advancing slides in PowerPoint. No more, no less. To accommodate more people we are accepting both "Ignite" and "Spark" talks:

For an “Ignite” each slide displays for 15 seconds (usually about 40-45 words), total time: 5 minutes

Slideshow TipsRemember, the slides are there to support what you say, not the other way around. Here are a few tips to make your slideshow great!

Keep It Simple. Use images/photos that add depth or humor to speech and a few key words to capture the idea you’re trying to share. The best Ignite presentations are mostly text free.

Timing. Slides advance every 15 seconds, so avoid cramming too many topics or ideas into one slide. Instead, give yourself the opportunity to be funny by spacing ideas across multiple slides.

Image Credit. Give credit where credit is due by naming the image owner. If an image is copyrighted, then get permission from the image owner before using it. “Open source” (copyright free) images are easy to find using creative commons searches.

Presentation TipsHere are some basic tips to help you rock your Ignite Presentation!

Connect. Make eye contact with the crowd and smile. Find people in the audience that are the most engaged and focus your attention on them. You can feed off each others energy.

Body Language. Stand up straight, be proud, and be confident! But at the same time, do not worry about being overly formal or stiff. This is an event for being animated… be as grand as you want with your gestures!

Tell A Story. Make it fun or memorable, be excited and do not overthink it! Imagine you are talking to your friends about the great time you had over the weekend, or the big plans you have for summer. How would you say it to them? Do it the same way at Ignite.

Prepare. Don’t try to memorize everything you want to say, just be familiar with what you want to talk about, the general idea for each slide. Practice talking about each point multiple times. The more familiar you are with your concepts the more comfortable you will be presenting them.

Things to Remember:

Topics. The best topics usually come from one of the following areas: a) something you are passionate about (i.e. your favorite hobby) b) something that you dislike c) something you are good at.

Interesting > polished. Everyone – I repeat everyone - is a good public speaker when they are telling people something they are interested in or want to hear. If you have an interesting topic, you have already won.

This is Ignite. It is not church, a debate or a funeral… it is an audience participation event. When you hear something you like, let everyone know. Do not hold your applause. As a presenter, be sure to leave a little extra time during your slides for the audience to laugh at your jokes or cheer for comments that they really like or agree with.

Have fun. That is the sole reason you (and everyone else) is here. There are no prizes, grades, or judgmental critics to review your work. Just a bunch of people hoping to have a good time and maybe get a new perspective on an interesting topic!